NBA Trade Rumors: Could Orlando Magic Ever Recover from Losing Dwight Howard?

For a place that everybody wants to go to, it seems that a lot of superstars also want to flee from it after a few years.

The fan base of the Orlando Magic may be forced to endure yet another one of the superstars that they bred leaving the team in search of a franchise that's more adamant about winning the NBA championship. At first, they dealt with Shaquille O'Neal's departure after he spent the first four years of his career with Orlando while leading the team to the NBA Finals and winning a scoring title in the process.

In the off season of 1996, O'Neal would receive a lucrative deal that would end up giving him double what he was making in Orlando and $28 million by the final year of the contract. It was a deal that Shaq couldn't refuse and it paid off in the end as he would join the Los Angeles Lakers and end up winning three championships with them before winning one more with the Miami Heat.

The Magic now face an eerily similar situation today with the prospect of All-Star center Dwight Howard leaving the city for none other than the Los Angeles Lakers. Dwight has played with the Magic for the first seven years of his career with an NBA Finals appearance and not much else to show for it. Unlike O'Neal who at least had Penny Hardaway and Horace Grant on his team, Howard has had little support from his teammates other than Jameer Nelson and the inconsistent Hedo Turkoglu.

Since making the NBA Finals in 2009, the Magic have yet to make it back and are recently coming off of a disappointing end to the 2011 campaign where they lost in the first round in six games to the rival Atlanta Hawks despite Howard averaging 27 points and 15 boards per in the series.

It was a clear sign that the Magic didn't have the pieces necessary for Howard to make it back to the Finals and it could mean him leaving if the team doesn't give him another scoring option to work with or if they make it a purpose to work the ball through him and not the perimeter.

Losing Howard would be devastating to say the least. The organization would lose the trust of their fans after witnessing another star departing for greener pastures as well as their center that has been carrying the team and molding them into the squad they are today for the past seven years. Howard leaving has now become real, especially with the comments he has made about free agency, and a trade may be the best option for Orlando.

Following the departure of O'Neal, the Magic were at least left with Penny Hardaway and a few other role players. The Magic would be left up creek without a paddle if they lose Howard to free agency because then they'd be left with possibly Jameer Nelson and Hedo Turkoglu as their top players which only spells disaster and obscurity for years to come.

It also tarnishes the reputation of the organization from the viewpoint of the fans and the players as well. With Howard continuing the trend of stars in their prime leaving the team, players may not want to join the Magic because of the team's history of not building around star players and not staying committed to making championship level rosters. This is the second time that the Magic have made the same mistake and players may be wary about joining the team when looking back at the history.

To show how much influence Howard has had on this team, all you need to see is how well this team has improved in the standings since his arrival in 2004. They were a 21-61 team when they received the number one pick and would proceed to win 15 more games the year after drafting Howard. It would only be three years later when the Magic would win over 50 games for the first time since 1996 which also happened to be O'Neal's final year in a Magic uniform.

The Magic have now won 52 or more games over the past four seasons and it's all because of Howard's influence in the post. He's becoming more gifted on offense after help from Hakeem Olajuwon, is one of the most athletic players in the NBA, and is easily the best defender on account of the three consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards that he has taken home over the past three seasons.

Losing Howard would be devastating for a franchise that has come so close to making a name for itself. They'd be reverting back to the ice age if they do end up losing Howard to free agency so they're either going to need a commitment from Howard, sign some quality role players that can play some defense, or do the worse case scenario and trade him before he can become a free agent so that the team can at least get something out of him.